Stories about: STNC

The prospect is tantalizing. Imagine being able to access the Internet in much the same way that you do now--but from your cell phone. And not just for checking your e-mail while on the move, but doing serious browser-based stuff too: buying a book or CD, booking a flight, trading stock or just finding the location of the nearest Chinese restaurant or ATM. Or accessing your company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to check on the status of an order, expedite a shipment or approve a stack of purchase requisitions. Indeed, within the constraints of what can be displayed on a pocket-size screen, imagine being able to do anything that you currently do at the desktop--and some things that you can't, such as pointing your phone at a Coke machine to pay for a drink.

Microsoft Corp.'s wireless plans for Pocket PC extend beyond adding modems to actually putting Pocket PC in a mobile phone.

Microsoft Corp. has made no bones about its focus on the Internet. The company changed its 20-year-old mission from crafting software that runs on "a PC on every desk" to running "any time, any place, and on any device," pointedly including Net appliances. The importance of the Web and connectivity is a recurring theme of its executives' public addresses. So it should be no surprise that Microsoft is putting its money where its mission is: broadband and communications investments and acquisitions.

Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates demonstrated here today a prototype of a Windows CE-based smart phone capable of accessing the internet, and said his company has changed its vision statement to reflect the importance of such devices. Microsoft's original vision was "a PC in every home and on every desk," he said, but that vision is no longer big enough.

Microsoft Corp. has acquired STNC, a U.K.-based software development company whose software provides access to intranets and the Internet from mobile devices, including phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants). The company will be fully integrated into Microsoft's productivity appliances division, Microsoft announced today in a statement. STNC's technology will be used in future digital cellular products to let users read e-mail, view calendars and access the Internet, Microsoft said. STNC's software will allow mobile professionals to access information on the move. Currently, there are no released products running the software, said Ran Mokady, chief executive officer of STNC in an interview with IDG News Service today.